


Screwtape on Maedhros: A Diabolical Correspondence

by uirgiliana



Category: Screwtape Letters - C. S. Lewis, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Epistolary, Fandom Fusion, Gen, although since they're all elves I suppose "death" is debatable
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 17:37:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17902529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uirgiliana/pseuds/uirgiliana
Summary: A collection of letters from a senior devil to his junior colleague, who has been tasked with the temptation of one Maedhros son of Fëanor.





	Screwtape on Maedhros: A Diabolical Correspondence

My dear Pyrlock,

I must say that I find your comments in your most recent letter very disturbing.  You write that it is a great pity that your patient has been rescued from the domain of Our Father.  Yet you do not mention at all the far more distressing matter of your patient's intentions regarding his uncle!  Do you not recognize that sincere regret, as that wretched, sentimental Nienna is always going on about, is more harmful to our aims than anything else?  That the Enemy should esteem so highly such a pathetic act as an apology is another sign of the rightness of our cause - but alas, that esteem, and the power given to acts of repentance thereby, is an aspect of Arda that Our Father was not able to repair.  Endeavor at all costs to keep your patient from acting on this regret!  That he feels sorry for his uncle and his uncle's people is all well and good, but unless he acts on it - unless he makes a real attempt to make amends - that feeling does nothing to hurt our efforts.  Keep your patient's mind on his pride.  Whenever he starts to think of any concrete plans for restitution, remind him that to do so would surely require he humiliate himself and, by extension, the whole of his family.  Keep him thinking about it in terms of respect for his father's memory, or the dignity of his person and his House - but by any means keep his mind off of the most basic question: whether what he is doing is right. 

As for the other matter, that of your patient's escape - take heart.  Assuredly Our Father might have turned your patient into an Orc in Angband's halls, but there are yet ways to do so in the world outside - and in truth, they are far more enjoyable for us.  It is one thing to make an Elf into an Orc by tormenting him, and quite another to make him one by convincing him to torment others.  And best of all, at the end, when all becomes clear, you will have the great delight of seeing your patient realize that he did it all to himself.  More on this when next I write.

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape 

 

My dear Pyrlock,

Know that your most recent report has been met with the gravest disappointment by those of us here Below.  Although you report that your patient's decision to abdicate in favor of his uncle was motivated largely by an awareness that unification of the Noldor under himself would be prohibitively difficult, if not impossible, you must recognize that a kernel of sincere regret for the privations suffered by the host of Nolofinwë on the Helcaraxë provided much of the impetus toward this decision, which makes it very bad for our endeavor here.  Furthermore, these events are likely to strengthen the Noldorin position in Beleriand and thus to interfere with Our Father's military actions there, and so you are doubly in disgrace.  Should this failure continue, you are doubtless aware of the consequences - and even you are not such a fool that you would hope for mercy in Our Father's domain. 

But to return to the matter of which I spoke in my previous letter: your strategy moving forward.  I gather that your patient intends to position his stronghold such that he will be continually engaged in military action against Our Father.  We may turn this quite easily to our advantage.  The strategy is quite simple.  You must encourage the patient to think of Our Father's military action in Beleriand not just to be evil but to be Evil itself, that is, to identify evil as a concept with certain concrete military actions to the extent that he considers any action at all taken in opposition to Our Father's military interests to be good.  Worry not that your patient's own military successes, such as they may be, will damage Our Father's interests in Beleriand in any really significant way.  For the foolish Quendi will persist in considering all else secondary to these grand campaigns and fail to notice that what we are really most interested in is the state of their _f_ _ëar_. 

You can very well get your patient to commit acts of ever-increasing brutality in the name of these military campaigns.  Get him to do the very things he condemns Our Father's forces for doing - but because he is fighting Orcs and not elves, he may be made to think them perfectly justified.  The Quendi will persist in thinking that the only thing that really matters is their intent - but this is of course false.  The day he will do to captives from Our Father's armies what was done to him in Our Father’s realm without thinking anything of it, since he is of course doing it "for a good reason", is the day we shall have him.  I gather that your patient cares a great deal for his brothers.  Doubtless, if asked, he would say that he would do “absolutely anything” to save them.  Your task is to get him to a point where that is really true. 

Your affectionate uncle,                                                                                                                                              

Screwtape

 

My dear Pyrlock,

I am disturbed by the reference you make in your previous letter to the matter of courage. Of course courage may be considered a virtue - but it is a virtue of a different sort than most.  Your concern over your patient's great physical courage is commendable, but misguided.  You act as though it is required of you to blunt this courage, a challenge which would surely be far beyond your capabilities - and, fortunately for you, outstrips our expectations as well. 

You see, courage is a virtue in that it permits other virtues to be exercised.  Without courage, a kind person or an honest one is kind or honest only when there is no risk - something hardly worse for us, really, than not being kind or honest at all.  You see, then, how courage acts to enable other virtues.  Yet without those other virtues, courage on its own is nothing.  Attend well, Pyrlock: it may even be an advantage for you.  Without courage, no one will commit any really virtuous act - but neither will we get one of the really great sins, the delightful, dramatic kinds of Falls that a skilled tempter takes such pleasure in orchestrating.  Oh, to be sure, such drama is not necessary - as Slubgob must have taught you at the Training College, a boring wrongdoing harms the _f_ _ëa_ as much as any other.  Yet in the case of your patient, I really think the grand way may be your best bet.  Certainly your patient is a person of principle.  Work on those principles.  If he is the kind of Elf I take him for, you will not get him by encouraging him to neglect what he feels to be his duty - but you can certainly mislead him as to what his duties really are.  Do not forget that the Quendi cannot converse directly with the Enemy, and that your patient has rejected those who have spoken with Him.  What may be very clear to you is a great muddle to him. 

The War, and the Oath - do not let him think of aught else!  Have the duties he has taken on himself so fill his thoughts that there is no room for the duties he did not choose, the ones ordained for him and taught him since childhood.  Mercy - oh, how the very word disgusts me!  Justice - what a hideous lie!  As you and I know very well, these things are nothing but empty propaganda on the Enemy's part - but they are nevertheless effective propaganda.  Be on your guard, but remember what it is that you must guard against, and don’t bother about your patient’s courage.  Concentrate your efforts instead where you are likely to achieve success.  If he is inclined toward great deeds, then let him commit great cruelties. 

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape

 

My dear Pyrlock,

You write to me that you are concerned that your patient may have been infected with Hope.  This certainly has the potential to be a very dangerous state of affairs - but as with nearly all else, it may also work out to our advantage.  The chief question is one of language.  Now, I understand that Hope, that most vile and pestilent little virtue, is not much covered at the Training College these past centuries (and, needless to say, you are not likely to encounter it in your everyday existence).  What you must get into your head is that the word Hope covers what are really two quite separate concepts - in Sindarin they are called _amdir_ and _estel_.  _Estel_ is what you need to be worried about, but, based on your description of the patient's circumstances, I think it more likely that you are faced with _amdir_.  Of the two forms of Hope, _estel_ is by the far the more dangerous, though I will admit that it does not necessarily seem so.   _Estel_ is the hope of someone trapped in a dark, windy cavern who keeps trying to light a candle, even when it is blown out at once and wouldn't light up more than about a foot of space anyway – the Hope that sticks around when no one can possibly think things will still be all right in the end. _Amdir_ , in contrast, is not really Hope so much as Optimism – it is a contented or even joyful attitude in the present that comes about as the result of a belief that you know what the future is going to hold, and that it will be pleasant.  As such, _amdir_ is often based on false premises, and all that is needed to get rid of it in most cases is time, time in which the patient’s sunny predictions fail to materialize.  But _estel_ really has nothing to do with the future, and does not depend on it, and so once it has gotten into a patient it is not easily eradicated.  Frankly, although the Research Departments are hard at work on the problem, we have not yet found a way to turn _estel_ to our advantage.  When faced with that problem, your only solution is to try to squash it.  _Amdir_ , on the other hand, you may even wish to encourage.  In the present it may seem to bring your patient a little comfort - though even now it is a hollow comfort - but, should his optimistic predictions for this grand Union in battle against Our Father be dashed (as dashed they will surely be), you will have gained a great advantage when it comes to instilling Despair.  And make no mistake, Pyrlock:  Despair is your greatest ally.   

I have just read your report on your patient's associates, and I am disgusted just reading it.  That eldest cousin of his, in particular, makes me sick - full to the brim of nobility and a hideous streak of sentimentality.  I urge you to minimize the contact your patient has with this cousin as much as possible.  As they are not now living close by, this should not be overly difficult.  This cousin is far too full of Hope – _estel_ , I mean – for my taste, and there is danger that he may affect your patient’s outlook in a wholly deleterious way.  But certainly do encourage Optimism.  It will do you no harm in the long run. 

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape

**Author's Note:**

> Tremendous thanks are owed to [Fiona15351](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiona15351), without whose encouragement this would remain nothing more than an idea. 
> 
> This work is inspired in large part by ["Screwtape on the Pevensies"](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8914754/1/Screwtape-on-the-Pevensies) by Violets and Lilies. I should also mention - although I had begun writing this before I came across this fic - [chapter 6](http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/archive/home/viewstory.php?sid=760&chapter=6) of Clodia's "A Beleriand Treasury of Childish Tales", which is another Screwtape-inspired Silm fic and is truly phenomenal.


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